No Words
by Cheers My Dears
Summary: Violet doesn't speak, not since her Mother died. Which is difficult under normal circumstances but more so when she meets someone; Tate. AU
1. Chapter One: Mysterious Staring Girl

**A/N: I decided to change this story to 3rd person and edit it a little as I wasn't completely happy with some bits.**

Chapter One: Mysterious Staring Girl

"She doesn't speak I'm afraid" Ben hoped he wouldn't have much of a fight with the Principal over it.

"Since her mother died you see they were very close until that day..."

"Yes thank you Hayden, that's true, selective mutism. She does see a therapist and as you can see from the transcript from her old school she's a student with amazing grades."

_Don't try too hard Dad he'll think something's wrong with me. So very true._

The Principal looks at her transcript again. Her grades are great just a shame about the rest of the transcript. Fights mostly, a few smoking on school grounds, the occasional tardy and the one time she got caught drunk in a bathroom.

"These behaviour problems how are they being addressed?"

_I think we've cracked him Dad he seems interested could it be my seriously high IQ? I doubt it's my mysterious nature. _

"Violet's a very good student intelligent and dedicated. These little issues are being worker through with her therapist. She may not speak up in class but I can assure you she is learning and she is going to behave."

_Apparently since I don't speak I'm also invisible_.

They've been talking about her like this, like she's not actually in the room, since they arrived.

_Or maybe I'm not actually here. I'm sure I'm sitting in this room with my Dad and Hayden. I'm sure I walked through the door and even shook hands with the Principal. Maybe I became invisible after that. _

"Oh what is it this time Mr Langdon?" A voice says from outside the Principals office. It's the receptionist talking to a boy who's just walked into the area outside the office. He's tall and wearing a dark coat. Violet looks at his face as he hands the receptionist a slip of paper; he's sullen and looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. He sits in a chair with his back to the glass of the office so that Violet can't see his face anymore, just his blonde hair. She looks at the back of his head and he must feel her staring at him because he turns around and catches her. He raises an eyebrow at her and she turns back to look at the Principal, only to see he is looking at her expectantly.

_Good luck dude, I have no idea what you want and no way of answering you. _

"Violet? Are you listening?"

_No Dad I'm staring at a mildly attractive guy over there._

She nods.

"Good" The Principal closes Violets file and places his hand on top of it; "so as long as you continue with your therapy, you don't make trouble and your grades stay consistent, Westfield is the school for you."

_Good I guess, as you're the only school that seems to want to accept me._

"Thank you so much Mr Olsen, I promise you Violet will be an asset to this school." Ben stands and so does Hayden, shaking the Principals hand and they all walk to leave the office.

She sees him as they leave. He's lounging in the chair his dirty blonde hair a mess and a look of distain on his face. He's wearing a big sweater and ripped jeans with worn converse and reading a book. But she can't see what book it is. He catches her staring at him again and looks her dead in the eye. This time she raises an eyebrow at him and he grins in reply.

"Mr Langdon I really don't want to know what it is this time but come in anyway." Mr Olsen beckons the boy into his office. Violet leaves with her 'family' and they exit the school going back to the big house with too many rooms. Which Violet suspects Hayden plans on filling with children.

Her first actual day at Westfield arrives and she prepares herself for the onslaught of weird looks and comments. She's not expecting to make friends it's a difficult thing to do when you can't communicate with people. She collects her schedule from the office and heads off to her first class pushing through the throngs of students in the halls to English Lit. As she gets to the room she hands one of the notes the receptionist gave me to distribute, to the teacher who reads it and sighs.

"We've been reading Othello so if you haven't read it I suggest you do that and just try to get what you can out of the class today."

_Othello why wouldn't I have read it? _

"And if you can sit over there that'd be great." She points to a table at the far side of the room by a window, so Violet goes and sits down. The room slowly fills with students, some of which notice her but most ignore don't. The guy she saw during her meeting with the Principal last week walks in, his nose is in a book and he sits at the back of the room. Then a girl with long dark hair sits next to her and sighs before taking a lip gloss and mirror out of her purse and begins applying it.

"I'm Leah." She extends her hand. Violet looks at it, her nails are perfectly manicured and a bright red. She takes her hand and pushes her schedule towards Leah pointing to her name.

"Violet. Mr Olsen told us about you and how you don't talk. Weird." She takes her hand back and places her make up in her purse. The teacher starts the lesson and Violet drifts though it doodling in her note book.

When the bell rings she packs up her stuff and heads to her next class, Math. She hands over another note and sits at the back of the room by herself working though an evaluation test the teacher gives her. She hates Math it's her worst subject but she manages to get though the test and soon it's time to head to Chemistry.

The Chemistry teacher is busy looking for something in a draw when she walks in so it takes a while before he notices her. The class begins to fill up and she eventually hands over another one of the notes. He scans it and tells her to sit with Tate and points in front of him, basically at the classroom.

"He means me." The voice comes from her left and when she turns it's that guy.

_Mr Langdon. Tate Langdon. _

He's sat at a lab table by himself behind beakers of coloured liquid.

"Bit of a stupid thing to say to a new student, tell them a name but don't point the student out." He says as she sits next to him."So I'm Tate and you're the mysterious staring girl. Who doesn't talk." He takes a notebook and pen from his bag and sets them on the table, leaning down to write something. "Interesting lab partner choice some would say." He looks up at her from his notebook with a grin on his face.

_Ok well I'm not complaining about it so far. It's not like looking at dimples hurts my eyes. _

They spend the rest of the class in silence carrying out the experiment and writing notes. They finish their work before the rest of the class and clear their equipment away waiting for the bell.

"What other classes have you got today?" She passes him her schedule and he notes her name. "Violet. Nice name." He studies her schedule and then passes it back to her. "Good luck in History Mr De Luca likes everyone to answer questions." He pushes his notebook towards her. "You could write down stuff and I could read it out for you if you sit next to me." Violet looks down at the notebook then back up at Tate. His eyes are pitch black and searching her face for an answer.

_I barely even nod at people and you want me to write stuff down for you to read out? But there's something...different about you. _

So she grabs her pen and writes 'Ok' on his notebook. He smiles and as the bell rings he packs his stuff away and says see you after lunch.

_Might make History a bit more interesting especially if I write crap down that he has to read out. _

After chemistry Violet day dreams through an art class pretending to care about how one shades fruit in a bowl. Then she leaves for lunch which she spends walking around the streets surrounding the school smoking and listening to her iPod. Taking a few bites of an apple before heading to History. When she walks into the class and hands the teacher the obligatory note, she looks for Tate but he isn't in the room. But Leah, the girl from English Lit is, and she beckons her over.

"I saw you smoking as you left school." She says when Violet walks over to her. "Do that on school grounds and you'll need a ventilator to breath." She waves her off and Violet is seriously tempted to light a cigarette right now and blow the smoke in this bitches face but then a voice from behind her says something better.

"Hey Leah, how's that clap clearing up? I heard Danny gave it to your Mom too hope she's ok."

_Tate's vaguely funny as well as cute then. Shit good thing I don't talk or I might have said that out loud. _

Instead she smiles at Leah and Tate leads her to a table towards the back of the room. They spend the class in silence again with Violet writing answers to questions in her notebook when Tate prods her. He answers for her but never for himself. They don't pay any attention to the glares Leah occasionally gives them. At the end of the class Tate hands Violet a piece of folded up paper and leaves quickly. She unfolds the paper and finds a phone number on it underneath the words 'Text me'. Violet folds the paper back up and shoves it into her bag.

_I don't really text but I might text him. He's funny and cute so it could be fun. _

She gathers her stuff and heads to the gym.

_Great fun won't be had but hopefully I won't drop dead from the experience. _

As she walks towards the locker room she starts to feel the panic rise in her chest.

_It'll be ok; I can just run into the bathroom and change. No one will notice that, I've gotten away with it for years, I can get away with it here. _

She walks into the locker room and sees groups of girls in various stages of undress all chatting. She scans the room and eventually finds the bathroom over towards the right. She moves past people trying to look inconspicuous and ducks into the bathroom finding a stall and locking the door behind her. Violet takes her gym kit out of her bag and pulls it on with the addition of a long sleeved t-shirt and leggings. She pulls her hair into a ponytail and decides that she has enough time before the class starts for a smoke. So she pulls out a cigarette and lights it smoking it quickly.

_Don't want to get caught on my first day. _

She hears girls chatting as she flushes her cigarette butt. She opens the door to walk out of the stall and sees that it's Leah, in her gym clothes with the addition of three vacant looking lackeys. Leah sees Violet in the mirror she's checking her make up in; she glares at her then sniffs. Her eyes widen and she spins round to face Violet.

"What did I tell you about smoking on school grounds?" She stalks towards Violet her hands on her hips. Violet stares at her feigning a confused look.

"Oh I forgot you don't speak. Do you also not hear? You do not smoke in this school." She reaches out and slaps Violet across her face. It's hard and stings she seems to have experienced with this kind of violence. But so does Violet. She pulls her arm back and punches Leah right in the nose. There's a screech as Leah clutches her face. Violet smiles and turns to rush out of the bathroom but a hand grabs her long hair and yanks her back, one of the lackeys. She pushes Violet into a wall and her head hits it, the sound reverberating through her head.

"You bitch her nose is bleeding!" Several kicks to the backs of her knees means Violet's now on the floor and being kicked in the ribs and back by several different pairs of sneakers. It occurs to her that she's not going to be able to fight her way out of this. So she decides she best just take it and start planning her revenge. That's when Violet hears a chuckle and sees Leah standing over her with something metallic in her hand. The sneakers stop kicking her and instead hands grip her body pinning her down on the floor. Violet feels her hair being pulled up its loose in the ponytail, then she hears the snipping. Leah's cutting Violets hair off. She struggles in the lackeys grips but they just chuckle and grip her tighter. When Leah's finished cutting Violets hair she kicks her square in the back so she fall right into the floor and the group leave the bathroom.

Violet lies on the floor for a few minutes before slowly moving, wincing, to look at herself in the mirror. Her hair now falls somewhere in between her shoulders and chin and it's uneven. There's also a cut above her eyebrow. She don't bother looking at the rest of her body yet, just stare at herself in the mirror for a few moments before carefully picking up her bag and walking back into the stall to change out of her gym clothes. After that she walks out of the bathroom and the locker room. She walks out of the school and heads home. As soon as she walks through the front door she head straight to her bedroom where she stays for the next three days, feigning sick to her Dad and Hayden and trying not to let them see the cut on her head. Hayden asks her why she cut her hair and she shrugs. They leave her alone and she plans her revenge. Her notebook will be full in a little while with the most deliciously nasty things Violet can do to Leah.


	2. Chapter Two: Tate Unplugged

**A/N: Wanted to add more Tate so this and the new chapter six are all him. Enjoy.**

Chapter Two: Tate Unplugged

Tate walks out of school Monday afternoon with a spring in his step. He'd spent his other classes thinking about Violet and how weird it was that he felt instantly attracted to her. As he walked to his car the massive bitch Leah and her group of girls were off to his left laughing away about something, but he was too busy to pay them any attention. He was far too busy thinking about Violet. He climbed into his car and drove far from the horror show that was school, towards his favourite beach.

Tate spent a few hours sitting on the beach, thinking about Violet and how he could get to know her better. He wondered how much fun his other classes would b with her in them. He checked his cell a few times to see if she'd texted him but she hadn't. When it was dark and Tate started to get cold and hungry he drove home.

"Where have you been?" Constance's voice comes from behind a cloud of smoke as Tate enters his kitchen. She's sat at the table with her crazy Medium friend Billy Dean and Addie his sister. Addie smiles at Tate and he smiles back, just because the Mother is an evil bitch doesn't mean the spawn are.

"When I ask you a question I expect an answer." Constance glares at Tate.

"I've been out." Constance sighs and takes another drag of her cigarette.

"How enlightening. I'm sure you remember that you do have manners." She indicates to the Medium.

"Hi Billie, how are the dead people?" Tate cocks his head and feigns an interested look.

"Hello Tate, well they are just wonderful." The Medium flashes a perfectly fake smile and Tate moves to walk out of the kitchen.

"You missed dinner so you'll have to make yourself something." Constance says as he leaves the room.

"That's fine I'm not hungry." Tate shouts back but as he walks upstairs to his bedroom his stomach growls and he tries to think where he stashed his little box of snacks.

Up in his room Tate looks through his closet and dresser draws for the box before remembering where he put it and pulling it out from under his bed. Grabbing some food and his homework he settles himself down on his bed. Opening his notebook he finds the 'Ok' Violet wrote in it earlier. He runs his finger across the two little letters then shakes his head.

"Little bit creepy, I don't even know her." Tate says to himself.

"Know who?" Tate looks up to see Addie standing in his doorway.

"Just a girl I met at school."

"Is she pretty?" Addie's face lights up as she runs over to Tate and hops up onto his bed dangling her legs over the edge.

"Um yeah she is." Tate feels his cheeks begin to redden.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"No I only just met her."

"You should ask her out on a date. You can take her to the movies."

"I don't know if she wants to. I gave her my number but she might not even like me." Tate sighs and looks down at his hands in his lap.

"Well you have to ask her to know!" Addie laughs at her brother, "Tate you can be really stupid sometimes." Addie rolls her eyes and grins.

"Thanks Addie!" Tate laughs. "Maybe I'll ask her out later in the week. I'll get to know her first and see if she likes me."

"Tate's in love!" Addie sings as she picks up Tate's notebook and pen then begins scribbling the words in it.

"Hey!" Tate grabs the book and shoves it under a pillow. Addie giggles and Tate glares at her before laughing too.

"Will you two shut up Larry and I are trying to have a conversation!" The cocksucker's voice screeches from downstairs. Addie stops laughing and hangs her head whilst Tate's face hardens at the voice and his hatred for it.

"Night Tate." Addie shows him a small smile as she gets up off of his bed.

"Night Addie." He smiles back at her as she walks from his room.

That night as Tate drifts off to sleep he wonders if he'll have any classes with Violet tomorrow and what she'd do if he did ask her out. How would she say yes or more likely, no? He decides that he'll wait for a while as he wouldn't do well being rejected and he barely even knows her. Tate wonders what they'd do if they did go on a date, maybe a movie like Addie suggested as a meal would be a little weird, practically sitting in silence the whole time.

But he had enjoyed their silent classes together it was strange but then Violet wasn't like any girl Tate had met before. She didn't spurt bullshit or gossip and she seemed happy enough in her own skin. She didn't try to dress like everyone else and she wasn't running around trying to impress people all the time. Getting to know Violet would be interesting and he'd have to be creative but if it went well he'd ask her out.

That's when Tate realised that he'd never actually been on a date before. He'd hooked up with girls but never taken anyone out. He'd never found anyone worth his time. Girls where usually only interested in him because he was known as a 'bad boy' and they wanted to experiment. He had never paid those girls who threw themselves at him any attention as they irritated his senses, too much perfume up his nose, their voices too high for his ears and their faces caked in makeup just irritated him to look at.

Whatever Violet decided Tate knew he wanted to see her again as she seemed interesting and was defiantly unusual but in a good way. And beautiful, yes Violet was most defiantly beautiful. Her long blonde hair looked so soft, with her brown eyes and red lips against her pale skin and her small hands. He remembered how her hands held her pen and the way she looped her letters in her notebook in History class. Tate wondered how small her hands where in comparison to his. If he took her hands in his would he dwarf them? He decided he would and that her hands would feel soft in his, small and soft. And if she ran her hands over his chest he'd tingle at the touch.

Half way through his third class on Tuesday Tate wondered if he scared Violet off. She hadn't texted him and he hadn't seen her in school all day. He thought he was probably being paranoid and that she was just sick or hated school like a normal person and was ditching. But he still couldn't help wondering if she would text him. He heard Leah and her gang laughing about something in the quad at lunch. Leah had what looked like fake hair in her hand and she was showing it off to some idiots from the football team. For the rest of the day Tate tried his best to stop obsessing over Violet who he told himself wasn't worth his time. It didn't work. That night Tate fell asleep again thinking about her hands and lips toughing his skin.

As he had finished all of his homework early Tate had a free evening on Wednesday. He considered what to do with it. If he had friends he'd hang out with them, go to the mall or movies or whatever kids his age did. But being sociable with your classmates was difficult when you spent most of your time contemplating murdering them. So instead he sat in his room listening to Nirvana and playing cards with Addie until she got tired. Then he went up to the attic and played ball with his brother Beau.

Tate had known for a long time that when he was old enough he was going to take his brother and sister away from the foul piece of shit who called herself a Mother. He'd take them far away from her, let them live free lives in the sun and show the world how proud he was of his flesh and blood. When Beau got tired Tate tucked him up in bed and read him a story, before going back to his own room. Then he found himself thinking about her again. He hadn't seen her in school for the past two days and thought he may never see her again.

Tate spent all of Thursday in a daze as he waited for news about his brother who had been rushed to hospital early in the morning. For once his thoughts were not clouded by Violet; he wouldn't survive if anything happened to his real family. His brother and sister meant the world to him and he would do anything and everything to protect them. When the cocksucker got drunk and tried to take her frustrations out on her children Tate would stand in between her and his siblings. He'd been doing that for as long as he could remember and he would never stop. He had to keep himself and his temper in check every day so that he never got into trouble and left her alone with them.

Tate rushed home as soon as school finished finding his Dad sitting in the kitchen with Addie and the cocksucker.

"How is he?" He looked at Addie's face knowing she'd reveal the truth straight away. She was sad but not distraught, so he relaxed a touch.

"He needs to stay in hospital for a while; its pneumonia." Tate's Dad didn't turn to look at him just continued to drink his coffee.

"I'll go visit him now." Tate turns to go back out of the door.

"Leave him alone," Constance snarls, "you'll only make it worse you always make things worse."

"Shut up Constance." Tate's Dad slams the coffee cup down and stands up. "Addie go grab some clothes you can stay at my house for a few days."

"Not a chance Hugo!" Constance grabs her cigarettes and lights one up.

"You caused this problem," Hugo leans across the table and jabs his finger in Constance's face, "you keep him in that cold attic. It's your fault he's in hospital I have a good mind to report you..."

"If you did you'd never see your precious monsters again!" At this comment Tate launches himself at Constance but she reaches her arm out to slap him before he can get too close. The room goes deathly silent until Tate hears Addie whimper from the kitchen door.

"You can come too Tate." She says in a small voice.

"No." Tate storms out of the house and into his car. He drives to the local hospital and sits outside Beau's room waiting for visiting hours to resume. A nurse takes pity on him and gives him a coffee and cookie. Then she sneaks him in to see his brother.

He spends a few hours talking to Beau about anything and everything until the nurse comes back and tells him Beau needs to rest. Tate hugs his brother then goes back to his car where he sleeps the night.

Tate wakes up early on Friday morning and spends some more time with Beau before heading to school. His thoughts wander back to Violet and he wonders if he'll ever see her again. He could use the distraction from his pile of shit called life. He walks into the computer room for his second class and sees her in front of him. She's standing just inside the door her hair is short and ragged but he knows it's her. His heart lifts as he walks in front of her, only to fall when he sees she's injured and looks seriously pissed off.


	3. Chapter Three: Revenge

Chapter Three: Revenge

Violet's hammering against the kitchen door screaming, "Please Mom don't!" She grabs at the door handle twisting it over and over again but it won't open. She can hear her Mom crying in the hall.

_Why did this have to happen again?_ She thinks.

"I'm sorry Mom, you have to believe me I'm sorry don't do this! Please!" She shouts through the wood.

_I need to get out of here but she's locked the door and the windows._

She frantically pulls open draws looking for something to get the door open with but it's too late, she hears the front door slam and her Mom's gone.

"Wait, please, Mom don't leave me here!" She slumps onto the kitchen floor sobbing as blood pours from her cut wrist.

Violet wakes with a start to find she's not locked in the kitchen of her old house but lying in my new bed, soaked in sweat and tears. The sound of her fists banging against the kitchen door is still ringing in her ears. She turns to look at her clock which says 6:13am.

_That'll do. _

Violet peels the wet sheets off of her body, takes a drink from her 'water' bottle and slips into her bathroom. It's Friday and she's spent the last three days sleeping, drinking and thinking. It's rewarded her with a selection of great revenge ideas in her notebook. But only one will do for Violet. She's got her plan all set in her head and sketched in the notebook, which is nestled in her bag with her equipment; cigarettes, lighter, hairspray and sleeping pills.

_I'll wait for lunch. There'll be a huge audience then. Everyone will see Leah screaming and crying like the pathetic baby she is. _

She jumps out of the shower and takes the time to look at her bruises and hair again. She thinks the bruises look good coupled with her cuts, old and new. They mingle together beautifully on her thighs and the cuts on her arms sit nicely against the bruises on her ribs. One of them almost touches the huge scar on her stomach.

_Shame my hair looks like shit still jagged and like I took shears to it. Can't believe Hayden thought I'd cut it myself, stupid bitch. I could do something with it. Maybe go for a Lisbeth Salander Mohawk that might freak Leah out before I even do anything._

But she decides she can't be bothered, regardless of the fact that she wouldn't know how to get it to go and stay up.

She goes over her plan again one last time, flicking through her notebook at the sketches. Little stick figures on the bottom right corner of the pages, Violet and Leah. As she flips through the book the stick figures act out her plan.

_I'll goad her by obviously smoking in the quad, get her to come to me. Get her close, in my face then whip out the hairspray. And with a quick flick of my lighter that'll be the end of it. Then I'll catch the bus out of the city and enjoy some fresh air before I take the pills. It's a great idea physical pain and humiliation. I get a nice trip out of the city and die in a beautiful quiet spot. It really will end it. I just can't get caught; doing this has serious consequences I'm not out of school, I'm out of freedom. I'm pretty sure setting people on fire warrants prosecution. Although I'm sure I'll be able to plead insanity with my 'troubled past'. _

_But I could just leave it all alone, forget about that bitch and just get on with school. My bruises will fade and my hair will grow. I'll be out of school in a year anyway I can move on with my life. Leave LA and go wherever I want. Never have to deal with bitches like her again. Except there are bitches like her everywhere. And they never leave people like me alone. And my head won't leave me alone. The nightmares just keep getting worse. At least this way I get revenge and peace. And if I do it, she'll think she's won. She will win she'll have humiliated me, caused me pain and just walked away. She doesn't deserve to just walk away. And she'll probably try something again if I don't retaliate. I can't fight her and her lackeys if they corner me again. So I need to have the upper hand and a weapon. And besides I deserve some revenge, they say there's nothing sweeter. It's true it does taste good._

"Don't forget Hayden and I are leaving for our weekend in Vegas tonight." Ben shouts from the kitchen as Violet walks down the stairs. "I'll leave you some money in the kitchen try to eat something other than pizza whilst we're away." She walks out of the house.

_Bye Dad._

Violet walks to school practically dizzy with the excitement. The stick figure animation keeps playing over and over in her head. She day dreams though her first class just waiting for it to be over. People don't pay that much attention to her as she walks through school. She hears a few comments about her bruised and cut forehead and several people decide she must have cut her hair herself. Lunch is getting closer each minute and she can hardly contain myself when she sees Leah as she walks into the computer room.

_I could walk right up to her now and set her hair alight. There's at least twenty people in the room that's an audience it could do. _

She starts to walk towards Leah when a body appears in front of her. Violet stops and looks up into Tate's face.

"Hey. Where have you been?"

_Hi Tate, do you mind moving so I can murder someone please. _

"Violet?" He looks worried taking in her chopped hair and bruised head. "What happened?"He goes to touch her eyebrow but she jerks away from him, glaring.

_Go away I'm busy and even if I weren't I can't answer you, you idiot, because I. Don't. Talk. _

"Ok kids you all need to be at a computer and logging on." The teacher walks up to Violet and indicates to a bank of computers to her left.

_Fine I'll wait. _

Leah sees Violet as she sits at a computer across the room from her and a smile plays across her lips.

_Enjoy it while it lasts, hopefully your lips will melt and you'll never be able to smile again. _

Tate's face appears in Violet's vision as he sits at a computer in front of hers. He's blocking Leah out.

_You really don't seem to be getting the message._

"Who did that?" He nods indicating Violet's head. She sighs and moves to look around him at Leah. He turns to see her too and they watch as she seems to be having trouble with her computer.

"Have you checked it's switched on?" The teacher asks and Leah just stares blankly back at him. After switching the computer on the teacher walks away shaking his head and Tate turns back to Violet.

"She's a coke whore. She'll do practically anything for a hit." He starts typing on his computer and the teacher comes to give Violet an assignment.

_Wow a database how exciting. _

"So do you have a revenge plan all prepared?" Violet glances up at Tate over the computer screen.

_For your own safety just get on with your work and stay out of my business. _

"I'll take that as a yes then."

_How am I supposed to survive until lunch with Tate jabbering away at me and time going so slow. _

She attempts to pass the time by starting the database but as she won't be completing it she quickly looses interest in the task. Tate doesn't talk to Violet for the rest of the class. She thinks that he may finally be getting the message.

Because she can't really participate in a Spanish oral Violet's sent to the library to brush up on some reading.

Again she wonders why she should bother with this, so instead she wanders outside to sit on a wooden bench getting some fresh nicotine filled air. She's only been sitting outside for a few minutes when she hears him again.

"I'm starting to feel like your stalker."

_Seriously you are my stalker Tate. _

He sits down on the bench next to Violet and indicates her cigarette. She passes it to him; he takes a drag and passes it back. He raises his eyebrow at her, "What are you smoking?" Violet shows him her pack. "Menthols." He shrugs "Ok." They stare out at the street in front of them, watching a woman drag her screaming child up the street.

_I really hope that is her child._

"These conversations of ours are a little one sided aren't they." Tate's grinning and the child's on the ground flailing her arms and legs around.

_Never have kids they're too much trouble. _

The woman has picked the child up and is rushing away from the people staring at her.

"So I'm sure you're wondering why I'm sat out here and not in class Tate." Violet turns to look at him and frowns. "Why yes Violet I am. Well Tate I'm really a spy for the British Intelligence agency and they have me investigating a matter of the upmost importance. Why Violet what is this matter of upmost importance? Well Tate I'm investigating how long it takes American boys to go crazy when a girl they find interesting, and would like to get to know better, barely acknowledges their existence. That's very interesting Violet, how is this investigation going? Very well Tate, so far I've made you stalk me, skip class and ramble like a mad man with only a few meetings. My report will look fantastic." Violet can't help but crack a smile as he beams from ear to ear.

_I don't think you're normal you know. Hilarious comment coming from me I know. _

"So what is this revenge plan of yours then?" He reaches into Violets open bag for her notebook. "Write it out in here." He opens it before she gets a chance to stop him. He looks at the sketch on the bottom corner of the page. It's not that obvious what it is until he turns the page and realises it's a flip animation. Violet reachs to grab her book from him but he stands up and moves away, flicking the pages to animate the stick figures. He does this twice before looking down at Violet and grinning again.

"This is good I like it." He closes the notebook placing it on the bench. "So what are you actually going to do to her." He sits back down on the bench and Violet waves the notebook at him. His face drops. "You can't be serious." His voice goes up an octave, "It's not a suspension you'll get it's time."

Violet raises an eyebrow and Tate reaches back into her bag, fishing out the can of hairspray. Just then the school fire alarm rings. Violet grabs the hairspray out of his hand shoving it, and her notebook, into her bag and runs off.

The fire alarm went off because a gang of freshmen set fire to a stack of books in the library, for some unknown reason.

_What did those books ever do to them? _

There was no real damage, apart from the books. But it was taking so long to deal with the fire and everyone was just wandering around. Tate hadn't found her yet but Violet was sure he would soon so she decided it was time for action.

She walks into the crowded quad and lights a cigarette practically blowing smoke into some guys face. A couple of people give her filthy looks and she carries on smoking. When she finish her first cigarette Violet pointedly drops it on the floor and stamps on it, then lights another.

_She better hurry up, I'm not a chain smoker. _

Suddenly Tate's behind her. He grabs Violets bag off her shoulder and glares at her. "Don't do this. Let's leave now we can get out of school and go somewhere quiet, away from all this shit. Don't ruin your life for this bitch." He looks at her pleading with his dark eyes as well as his words. Violet just stares back and shakes her head.

"What the fuck have I told you about smoking in this school?" Leah appears in front of Violet from nowhere with one of her lackeys.

Leah reaches to take Violets cigarette from her hand but she stabs her with it before she can. Leah screams as the cigarette burns her and goes to hit Violet but she spit in her face and shoves her hard into the lackey. The two of them fall down and Violet tries to grab her bag from Tate. But he swings it away and it hits some beefy guy walking behind him.

"What the fuck?" The guy turns around and punches Tate in the face. He's caught off guard and drops Violets bag. The guy goes to walk away but Tate grabs him by the collar and slams his head into the beefy guy's skull.

Violet spots her bag on the ground and reaches into it just as Leah manages to untangle herself from her lackey and stalk towards her.

Tate gets another punch from the beefy guy, this time to the stomach and as he bends over, the wind knocked out of him, Violet pulls out the hairspray, aims it at Leah's face and presses down on the button.

Leah gets a face full of hairspray and shrieks just as Tate finds himself being kicked to the ground. A crowd has gathered around them and Violet's back in her bag rummaging around for her lighter when she feels hands on her left arm grabbing at her and pulling the fresh cuts open. Leah pulls Violets arm behind her back, her eyes are wild and it feels like she's about to snap Violets bones in half. Then Leah has hands on her arm and drops my Violets.

Just as Violet is about to swing for Leah again Tate grabs her right hand and she's being dragged away. He drags her away from the quad towards the car park. He stops at a car and shoves her inside getting behind the wheel and speeding out of school grounds. He's breathing hard and driving fast. Violet looks at him and he smiles.

"You are bat shit crazy."


	4. Chapter Four: Out

Chapter Four: Out

Tate is still breathing hard when he parks up alongside the beach he's driven to. He winces when he gets out of the car.

_I guess he's got war wounds I'd better go see if he'll survive. _

Violet gets out of the car and follows Tate down to the beach. His back is to her as he stares out at the ocean. She walks up to his left side and stares out at the water in the distance, as it joins with the greying sky on the horizon. He doesn't say anything for a few minutes he just stares and holds his right side in his hand.

"I used to come here." He starts as Violet moves around to his right side to check out his injuries. "When the world closed in and got so small I couldn't breathe." She pulls his hand away from his side and gently lift his shirt a little to look. He winces when she lightly strokes his ribs.

_Hopefully they're just bruised and not cracked. _

He's looking down at her with kind eyes and a smile tinged with blood. She almost wishes she could say thank you for what he did.

"You a nurse now?" Violet runs her fingers along his ribs and sticks out tongue her at him. She holds a finger up, indicating she'll be a minute, and jogs back up the beach to his car. Luckily she managed to hang onto her bag as Tate dragged her from the fight. Violet grabs her bag from Tate's car and walks back down to the beach to find him sitting down on the sand. She sits down next to him and goes about searching through her bag.

_It's never ending the shit that I keep in here. It may be useful but It's impossible to ever find what I need when I need it, case in point; my lighter about half an hour ago._

"Little worried about what you're gonna pull out of that thing. Honestly didn't mean the nurse comment." Violet looks up to see he's grinning and hasn't turned into a pussy all of a sudden.

_Don't worry you're safe, for now. _

She finds the painkillers and hands them to Tate whilst swigging from her bottle. He looks at the container then takes two pills and holds his hand out for my bottle.

"Don't like 'em dry."

_You'll soon change your mind. _

She hands him the bottle and tries to hold back a grin as he drinks from it. As soon as the liquid hits the back of his throat he's coughing and choking on it.

"Oh God Vi, you could have let me know it wasn't water." There's no holding back her grin now as he scrunches his face up and sticks his tongue out making yuck noises. Violet takes the bottle back and swigs from it again.

"Why are you drinking ...Vodka?" I nod "Straight. From a water bottle?" He looks at her with a small frown. She shrugs.

_Long story. _

Then he grabs the bottle and takes another long swig. Violet beams at him.

_Today's been very different from how I imagined it. _

"So he swung at me and I ducked under his arm, then I gave him a quick upper cut into his ribs, BAM!" Tate ducks and swings his fist up at his imaginary adversary.

_Turns out, Tate's a fun guy whether he's sober or buzzed on painkillers and alcohol. _

He's rather proudly re-enacting the fight from earlier, flinging himself about the beach and adding extra details, for effect obviously. Violet takes the bottle and finishes the last of the Vodka, usually that would make her sad but she can't help feeling happy sat here laughing at Tate.

_He's so cute leaping about in the sand all wide eyed and breathless. _

He suddenly stops, turns to look at Violet and as she lean back on the sand he walks over and sits down.

"You laughed." He's staring deep into her eyes. "Why don't you talk? Silly thing to ask I know but I'm curious. Can u speak?" He wants something from her any kind of communication, so she gently nods. "So you just stopped speaking?" Nod. "When?" Violet raises an eyebrow. "Good point. Did something happen to make you stop talking?" Nod. "Something bad?" Nod. "Sorry." She shrugs.

_It's not like it's your fault. _

"Can I have a smoke?" He reaches into her bag before she even gets a chance to nod.

_This guy has no manners that's the third time today he's gone in my bag. _

He pulls out Violets cigarettes and continues searching for that elusive lighter, but instead he finds the sleeping pills. "Thinking of having a nap?" Nod.

He puts them back in her bag and finally finds the lighter. When he turns back to Violet she's taken two cigarettes out of the pack, ones is between her lips and the other on her upturned palm. He lights Violets then his own. They sit in silence just smoking for a while.

"What were you planning on doing after you'd set Leah on fire?" He doesn't turn to look at her just continues starting out at the sea. Violet doesn't do anything, no indications towards her bag with the sleeping pills inside. He turns to look at Violet holding her chin in his hand so he can look right in her eyes. For some reason she feels sad thinking about it.

_I'd never have had all this fun with Tate if I'd taken them. I'd never be having this much fun again if he hadn't stopped me setting her alight, I'd be dead or in jail. I'd never be sat on this beach with his dark eyes staring deep into mine searching out answers to his questions. _

A light rain starts as they finish their cigarettes and Tate reaches into Violets bag again. He pulls the pill bottle out. He looks directly at her. "Were you going to take these?" Nod. He looks down at the pills in his hand then stands up and walks towards the ocean. He pops open the lid of the bottle and drops the pills into the surf.

Violet looks at Tate, watching the pills disappear into the sand and sea, and wonders what she would do to him if she didn't like him. If she didn't find him attractive. If she didn't want to kiss him. If she didn't want to feel his tongue flick into my mouth. If she didn't want his hands on her body. If she didn't want her hands on his body; on his chest, in his hair, on his dick.

He walks back to Violet. "I'm hungry let's go get something to eat." He holds out his hand for her, she takes it and he pulls her up. They walk back to his car where he grabs his bag and finds his phone ringing. He fishes it out.

"Oh that can't be good." Violet frowns at him. "My Moms called seven times," he laughs "maybe she needs sugar. Better check my voicemail." As he does that Violet searches for my phone in her overcrowded bag. No missed calls just one solitary text from her Dad. She opens it and reads.

_You skipped the majority of your first week at your new school. Then you start a fight and nearly blind a girl. You're suspended and possibly going to be kicked out. I'm so disappointed in you. Come home now. _

"Turns out school called our parents. I've been suspended. Oh well." He looks at Violet with a triumphant look on his face and she hands him her phone. He reads the text. "I'll take you home now." Violet grabs his arm as he goes to get in the car and shakes her head. "Are you sure?" Nod. "Ok. But I'm still hungry." Tate locks his car and they walk off looking for somewhere to eat.

They stop at a burger place and Tate orders their food to go. He then leaves Violet outside a store with the food promising her a surprise. He comes back about ten minutes later with a paper bag and hands it to her. Violet peeks inside and sees a bottle of Vodka and a pack of menthols. She grins.

_Oh Tate, how did you know?_

They walk back to the same beach and set out their feast. It's getting dark and a little cold so Tate wanders off to get driftwood for a bonfire. Violet sits on the sand and kicks off my shoes stuffing her socks in them and then rummages through Tate's bag.

_You keep going through mine let's see what you have in yours._

She finds his IPod and scrolls through it whilst Tate builds the bonfire. Violet open the Vodka and drinks feeling it burn down her throat.

_Hello bliss._

Soon she has his earphones in and is listening to his music, she decides he has good taste. Violets put the IPod on shuffle and leans back on the sand nibbling occasionally on her fries. They sit for some time smoking and drinking until Nirvana's, 'Come as you Are', starts playing in Violets ears. She puts the song on repeat, jumps up and starts dancing.

_This is my all time favourite Nirvana song. No contest. _

Violet's dropping her hips and swaying to the beautiful music with her arms in the air. She pull her arms down running her fingers through her hair and then further down her body. She's loving the feel of the sand between her toes and her skirt is making swirls around her legs as she twists and turns to the music. Then Tate's standing in front of her he takes her hands and starts moving along with her. Violet turns around to face the ocean again and feels him behind her, so close.

_If I were sober, I'd probably laugh at how ridiculous we most likely look. But I can't actually remember the last time I was sober, so I won't. _

Instead Violet turns around and hold Tate's face in her hands reaching up on her toes for a kiss. He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her closer as she slips her tongue into his mouth.

He walks them back to their little camp and sits down indicating to the sand next to him.

_You want me to sit next to you? Boring. _

So instead Violet lowers herself onto Tate's lap so she's straddling his outstretched legs. He reaches up, takes his earphones out of her ears and smiles.

"You're pretty forward for a mute."

They sit like that making out for God knows how long. Tate eventually becomes uncomfortable in this position and decides to lift Violet off of him, lays her down on the sand and crawls on top of her. Then he trails little sucking kisses down her cheek and neck. Violet can feel his hard dick on her thigh and she tries to manoeuvre herself so she can grab him through his jeans. Just then her phone makes a noise behind her head and Tate stops sucking on her neck. He pulls away from her and sits up grabbing Violets phone and handing it to her. Violet leans up on her elbows and checks the message. It's another one from her Dad.

_Hayden's threatening to leave me if we don't go on this vacation. So we're leaving now and if you're not home when we get back you're no longer welcome in the house. _

Violet smiles and hands Tate her phone so he can read the exciting news before grabbing paper and a pen from her bag. She writes down her address shoves it at Tate. He looks at her writing and seems to weigh up his options.

_Better hurry up Tate, I'm cold and horny. _

"Your place?" Nod. "I'm too drunk to drive but it's not that far to walk." So Violet grabs her shoes and pulls them on, whilst Tate puts the fire out. They gather their stuff up and stand. Tate brushes sand off Violets clothes and out of her hair. They walk back to her house. Part of the way there Tate's fingers slip between Violets and they're holding hands.

The lights at Violets house are all off when they arrive but Violet decides to make sure her Dad and Hayden have really left before she lets Tate in. So she indicates for him to go round the back of the house whilst she goes in the front. After Violet unlocks the door and enters the alarm code, she quickly checks the living room and her Dads study before walking to the kitchen and opening the door to let Tate in.

"Nice place." He smiles and looks around.

Violet takes his hand and leads him up the stairs to her room at the end of the corridor. She unlocks the pad lock on her bedroom door walks in and turns the light on. Tate moves in behind her and looks around the room. He takes in the blue green walls, her books and the doll heads in a bowl. Violet walks towards her bed and kicks some dirty clothes under it. Her foot hits an empty bottle and there's a tinkling of glass but when she turns around Tate doesn't seem to have noticed.

_Must clean up under there. _

"I don't think I've ever been in a girl's room that looked less girly." He's flicking through Violets comic book pile. "No pink anywhere."

_Just on my underwear. _

Violet kicks off her shoes and pulls her big sweater over her head before climbing onto her bed, patting the mattress next to her. Tate hesitates for a moment.

_Oh don't get cold feet now, please. _

But then he's pulling his own shoes off and joining her on the bed. He suddenly looks nervous.

_Oh come on already. What are you a virgin? I wonder if he is. I should probably slow down a little just incase. I should slow down full stop. _

That's when Tate puts his hands on Violets shoulders and pushes her down onto the bed. He crawls on top of her pinning her to the bed and smashes his mouth on hers. He kisses her deep using his tongue to taste her, she tastes of cigarettes and alcohol. Violet threads the fingers of her right hand through his hair as he pulls her left arm up and pins it above her head. He starts sucking on her neck and she can feel him hard on her leg. Then suddenly he stops kissing her and pulls back. Violet looks up at him quizzically and then realises her arm is stinging from his touch. Tate's looking up at Violets left arm and gently pulling at her sleeve to expose the cuts and scars.

_Shit I should have turned the lights off. _

He stares at her arm for a moment gently running his thumb over the scars but avoiding the raw cuts. The he sits up next to her on the bed and is pulling his own sleeve up. His arm is decorated with beautiful silver scars. Violet looks at Tate's arm for a few seconds before moving off the bed. Tate looks at her with a sad smile like he thinks she's rejecting him. As Violet stands she pulls her shirt off over her head, rolls her leggings off and follows them with her skirt.

_I'm standing in front of a guy I barely know in just my underwear. Not sure if this is going to go well. _

Tate's eyes go wide as he takes in Violets bruised and cut body. Her thighs, arms and stomach are littered with criss crosses, silver and red, mingling with the yellowing bruises from Monday. Then he moves to stand next to her pulling his own clothes off so that they are both in just their underwear and so that Violet can see his blossoming bruises. But he doesn't have cuts anywhere else on his body and the connection Violet felt a few seconds ago when she say his scars starts to crumble. She moves to wrap her arms around her body but he shakes his head and holds her arms in his hands.

Tate lays Violet down on her bed and begins gently kissing all of her scars and cuts. He starts with her arms then moves to her stomach and as he reaches the large one, it looks like he wants to ask her about it. But he seems to change his mind and continues kissing her. His mouth slips down to her thighs and he studies them seeing tiny little holes which he decides to ask her about later. But for now he can smell her and all he wants to do is part her thighs and taste her. He looks up at Violet from under his eyelashes and sees her looking back at him. As she doesn't seem to be pretesting he does part her thighs.


	5. Chapter Five: Secrets

Chapter Five: Secrets

The cold of the metal against her skin makes Violet tense. Her Mother's voice comes from above her, "Hold her down I need to get the demons out." Vivien is hovering over her daughter wild eyed and muttering to herself. "Bleed them out. Bleed them out." Violet tries to scream as the kitchen knife slices across her wrist but a hand is covering her mouth. "Hold still baby this will be over soon and you'll be better."

Violet wakes up from one of her usual nightmares to find Tate looking down at her. She's lying on her back completely naked under the covers, and he's on his side, in the same state of undress, propped up on an elbow. His dark brown eyes are focused on hers and he a concerned look.

"Bad dream?" Nod. "I would say wanna talk about it, but..." His face cracks into a grin and Violet manages to pull the corners of her mouth up into a weak smile.

_Yeah horrific memory filled nightmares are soooo funny._

"I'm sorry." Tate wipes the smile off of his face, "It can't be easy not talking and me making fun of you can't help either." Violet looks up at him and moves to place a gentle kiss on his lips.

As she feels his lips on hers memories of last night flood back. How he trailed soft light kisses over her cuts and scars. How he looked up at her all dark eyes and gently pushed her legs apart, making her gasp and moan as he kissed her through her panties. How he gently pulled them down her legs and explored her folds with his tongue. How he took one long lick of her and she bucked up to him practically whimpering. How he flicked his tongue in and out of her and on her clit until she almost screamed his name.

"What are you thinking about?" Tate's looking down at Violet again as she snaps back to the present. She blushes and Tate gives a small laugh. "Last night?" Nod. "Well that was some of my best work, I'm glad you're reliving it." He leans back onto the bed and rests his arms under his head.

Violet scoffs and shoots up to straddle him. She sees his triumphant grin plastered on his face and leans down to kiss it off. She grinds her naked body on his and quickly gets the reaction she desires. But then the door bell rings. Violet sits upright on top of Tate and frowns.

_I'm far too busy to entertain, go away._

The door bell rings again but Violet ignores it and leans back down to Tate shoving her tongue in his mouth and grinding herself against his erection. The door bell rings repeatedly and then the banging starts. Violet sighs into Tate's shoulder before pulling herself up to sit back on the bed.

"Sounds like someone really wants you. Apart from me of course." Tate says as he sits up too.

Then Violet hears shouting, "Did you think you could just run away and leave me? You're mine Violet!" She recognises the voice but can't quite believe her ears.

_Oh shit it can't be him. _

"Who's that?" Tate goes to get off the bed put Violet shakes her head at him.

She jumps from the bed and pulls her sweater on from the floor, before running to the nearest window. She opens it and sticks her head out to look down at the street, she can't see him but she can see his car parked out there.

_Fuck how did you find me? _

The owner of the voice, Jared, walks backwards from the front door and around the side of the house. He looks up and sees Violet with her head out of the window. She pulls myself away from the window and slams her back into the wall, hard. She winces and bites her lip.

_If I ignore him he might get the message and leave. Now that's unlikely. _

"I saw you. I'm coming to get you." Jared shouts from below. Then there's a smash of glass.

_He's breaking in. Oh shit._

"Is that a window breaking?" Tate's standing next to Violet and trying to look out of the window. She slams her hands into his chest and pushes him back to sit on the bed, shaking her head. She looks around for her skirt and shoves it on before walking towards the bedroom door. She holds her hands up to Tate, hoping he gets that she wants him to stay here and leaves the room.

_Please stay here Tate you don't want to get involved._

Violet walks towards the stairs raking her hands through her hair.

"Where are you?" Jared's sing song voice drifts up to her as she walks.

_I've just got to get him to leave quickly then I can get back to Tate._

Violet starts walking down the stairs and sees him standing at the bottom.

"I missed you." He looks up at Violet with his bright blue eyes and she swallows down the lump in her throat, remembering the last time she saw him and what he did. "Come here little flower." She continues her descent down the stairs. When she reaches the bottom Jared pulls her into a hug.

_It doesn't look like he's high; if Tate leaves I can calm Jared down. I'll just have to find a way to explain it to Tate later._

"Who the fuck are you?" Tate's standing at the top of the stairs looking down at Jared and Violet; he has his jeans on but nothing else.

_Shit! Why couldn't you stay upstairs I have this. _

"Who the fuck am I? Who the fuck am I?" Jared releases Violet and shoves her away from him as he moves to walk up the stairs. "I'm Jared, Violet's boyfriend of three years. Who the fuck are you?" He punctuates the question with a pointed finger in Tate's direction. Violet reaches out to pull Jared back to her, looking up at Tate and silently pleading with him to go away. Jared turns to Violet and looks her in the eyes, "Who is this guy and why is he half naked in your house?"

_How am I gonna diffuse this? _

Violet reaches up to hold Jared's face in her hands and plants a gentle kiss on his lips. Tate glares down at the scene and decides he's gotten Violet all wrong and that she is like all the other girls after all. So he turns to walk back to her room and grab his stuff. But as he does he hears a scuffle and a gasp. Tate turns back around to see that Violet's feet have left the floor; Jared has picked her up by the throat and is snarling into her face, "You don't touch anyone else. Do you hear me?"

He pushes Violet into the banister hitting her back against it. Tate flies down the stairs, missing the last few as he throws himself into Jared, who drops Violet to the floor. Tate and Jared land in a heap and both scramble to get up off the floor, but Tate manages to straddle Jared and throw a few punches to his face. Violet rolls onto her back clutching her throat and gasping, just as she stumbles to her feet, Jared's fist connects with the side of Tate's head.

Violet pulls herself up and moves to run out of the front door when she sees Jared knee Tate in the balls. Tate falls off of Jared and curls into a ball as he's kicked in the stomach and chest. Violet runs at Jared and jumps on his back, punching him in the head and trying to wrap her arms around his throat. Jared stops kicking Tate and reverses into a wall knocking Violet into it. She drops from his back winded and Jared stalks back to Tate. Violet pulls herself up again and runs down the hall, frantically searching for a phone. Violet finds the home phone in the kitchen just as Jared realises she isn't in the foyer anymore.

"Violet?" He calls for her in his sickly sweet voice. "Come out, come out wherever you are."

Violet grabs the phone and ducks into the dining room as Jared walks into the living room looking for her. She tries to dial 911 just as he enters her Dads office. But she accidently hits the speaker button and the dial tone sounds out through the quiet house. Violet drops the phone and runs out of the dining room towards the kitchen. Jared grabs her from behind as she's running towards the back door, he wraps his arms around her chest pinning her arms to her sides. He picks her up off the floor and carries her into the living room. Violet kicks her legs at Jared in an attempt to free herself from his grip. She tries to rake her nails against his arms but he just tightens his grip around her chest. When she bites him he drops her on the hard floor of the living room, her knees scraping on the floorboards.

"I don't know what your problem is today but you really need to stop this." Violet is crawling on her hands and knees away from Jared when he grabs her by the hair and pulls her neck back. "I really missed you and you won't even apologise for leaving, after everything I did for you." Jared forces Violet's head into the floorboards, smashing in her nose and head. "I love you Violet, you're mine and I won't let you be with anyone else." Blood is pouring from Violet's nose and forehead.

As Jared goes to slam her head against the floor again he hears Tate shout, "You're fucking insane!" Tate's face is covered in his own blood as he hits a dining room chair over Jared's head.

Jared slumps on top of Violet and Tate grabs him off of her by the back of his shirt. Tate shoves Jared on the floor and beats him with a broken chair leg. Tate stops after a minute to check on Violet who is unconscious on the floor; he turns her over and leans down to check if she's breathing. Through a mask of blood he feels a gentle breath come from her and reaches to pick her up. As he does so he hears Jared clambering to his feet, there's also the scrape of metal as Jared pulls a fire poker from its holder. Tate manages to place Violet on the couch in time before Jared swings the poker at him, hitting Tate in the shoulder. Tate ducks again and wrestles Jared trying to get him to loosen his grip on the fire poker. But Jared is too strong for Tate and he has no way to stop himself being stabbing in his side with the poker.

Tate cries out in pain as Jared twists the poker in his side. Tate drops to the floor and passes out, Jared moves to the couch where Violet is still unconscious. He drags her onto the floor and pulls her skirt up to expose her naked lower body. She wakes up as Jared thrusts his fingers into her. As soon as she realises what he's doing Violet thrashes at Jared trying to get free from him, but he just laughs and crushes her windpipe with his forearm. He quickly pulls his fingers out of Violet and uses that free hand to unbuckle his belt and pull his pants down. Violet kicks and tries to screams but she can't breathe, she claws at the arm around her throat as Jared thrusts into her. A scream escapes her as Jared temporarily releases her throat, only to replace his arm a few seconds later, laughing in to her face.

Tate wakes up on the floor with the fire poker still in his side as Violet screams. He looks across the room to see Jared on top of Violet but he can't make out what he's doing to her. Tate musters what strength he has to drag himself onto his feet, pulling the fire poker out of his side with a grunt, as he walks over to Jared. When he stands over them Tate sees exactly what Jared's doing to Violet. He holds the fire poker up and stabs Jared repeatedly in the back. A strangled cry comes from Jared as the fire poker enters his body and he collapses on top of Violet.

Violet crawls out from under Jared's limp body and stands swaying slightly as she looks down at him on the floor. She looks at the poker in Tate's hand and takes it from him; standing over Jared she slams the poker into his head and screams. When she stops screaming she looks down at the fire poker stuck in Jared's head. She yanks it out and drops it to the floor, staring at the blood and brain matter that sits where Jared's head used to be. She cocks her head to the side and tastes blood. Violet realises it's dripping from her face into her open mouth. She reaches her hands up to her face and touches her bloody nose and forehead. When she pulls her hand back she finds it's not just blood on her, Jared's brain matter covers her palm. She collapses, unconscious on the floor.


	6. Chapter Six: Time to Decide

Chapter Six: Time to Decide

Tate tries to catch Violet as she collapses but he's too late and she falls to the floor. He sinks down next to her and manoeuvres her limp body to check she's still breathing. She is and he relaxes a touch. He looks at her, her eyes are closed and her face is blank. He sees the blood and brain matter covering her beautiful face and decides to clean it off of her. He scoops Violet up and lays her gently on the couch pushing her hair from her face. When he turns to walk to the kitchen Tate trips over Jared's body and hits the floor hard landing on his knees and elbows. Panic spreads through him as he scrambles about on the floor, thinking that Jared's still alive and attacking again. But when he turns himself over he sees that that would be impossible.

Tate sits up and looks over Jared's dead body. He's lying face down on the floor with his pants around his knees. His shirt has holes in it and is covered in still wet blood which is pooling around the body. His head is partially caved in and also covered in blood along with pinky grey brain chunks.

Tate looks up at Violet lying peacefully on the couch and considers what has just happened. How he and Violet had gone from a nice bit of foreplay to being beaten up to Violet being raped then to murdering the rapist. Tate looks down at the body again thinking about the stab wounds and which one had actually caused Jared's death. They would probably never know which one had killed him, whose stab had stopped his heart beating. Staring at the dead guy's naked butt Tate wonders who he actually was. He said he was Violet's boyfriend but she didn't seem happy to see him when he turned up.

Something suddenly clicks in Tate's head and like he's waking from a dream he realises that there's a dead body in front of him and he possibly killed the guy. He looks around himself in disbelief and plays the events over again in his mind. Jared started the fight as he attacked Violet and Tate was trying to help her. Then he was trying to protect himself and he stabbed Jared when he was raping Violet. Tate decides that it'd be classed as a justifiable homicide and he moves to get up from the floor and look for a phone so that he can call the police. But then he wonders what would happen if he did call the police?

They'd send crime scene guys round and find blood from all of them. They'd take photos of the broken furniture and the murder weapon. They'd find finger prints on the chair and fire poker. The police would take him and Violet away, take them to the hospital and check their injuries. Then they'd question them separately where Violet wouldn't be able to answer them. What would they think when she didn't speak? Would they think she was in shock? Or hiding something? He didn't know when her parents would be back or how to contact them.

He didn't know if she had a record like he did, and if the police would believe him because of his. But the evidence would show what had happened. Even if Violet couldn't tell them what had happened they must be able to corroborate his version of events. Tate started panicking about what would happen if they didn't believe him and he was blamed for Jared's murder. What would happen to Addie and Beau if he was convicted of murder? There was no way he could risk leaving them with Constance. Tate decided not to call the police.

Tate looks down at Jared's body and wonders how hard it would be to hide. He could bury it out back, burn it in a furnace or drive it to the beach and dump it. Tate realised that the list of things he could do was pretty extensive, especially if Jared's body was cut up in to manageable chunks. He could cook it up and serve it as a meal to Constance and Larry. Or steal acid from school and dissolve the pieces. Tate grinned thinking about all these ways to get rid of the body.

He decides that he needs to move it before anyone sees it and then he can go about cleaning up the house to remove evidence. Tate pulls himself up off the floor and wanders around the room. He sees the fire place, walks over to it and peers up the chimney. But realises that that wouldn't work. So hee wanders around the house for a while looking for a good hiding place. He finds the stairs to the basement and continues his search there. He finds a flashlight on a shelving unit and uses it to search the entire basement. Upon finding the door to the crawl space Tate pulls himself up through it and crawls along the dusty floor until he finds the perfect place.

When he makes it back to the living room Tate sees that it's getting dark so he turns on a lamp and sees Violet still unconscious on the couch. Tate checks she's still breathing again and decides that if she's not awake when he's finished with the body he'll wake her to make sure she's defiantly ok. Grabbing Jared's ankles he drags the heavy body from the living room to the foyer and through the hall. He struggles with the body and the door to the basement stairs but eventually he bumps the body down. When he gets to the door to the crawl space he ponders how to manoeuvre the body in, finally deciding to prop it with a chair so he can drag it up. It's difficult to drag through the crawl space and takes Tate a while to do, but then he can stand again. When he comes to the empty space in the floor he found Tate kicks the body into it.

He spends a few moments just looking at the body with the events still playing over and over in his head, before he turns and leave the crawl space. As he drops back into the basement he changes his mind about waking Violet up now, he decides to clean the house and then wake her. That way she won't have to see or deal with any of the blood. As he walks up the basement stairs he wonders if they should go to the hospital to have their injuries checked out. As he opens the door at the top of the basement stairs he sees Violet standing in front of him and all thoughts leave his head.


	7. Chapter Seven: Revelations

**A/N: I think the darkness has me! Not sure where the last chapter came from and I was shit scared what you'd all think but WOW what amazing reviews! Hopefully this chapter will answer some of your questions. BTW reviews make my day/night/life!**

Chapter Seven: Revelations

When Violet woke up she was lying on the couch in the living room. Her face and head ached, her knees stung, her limbs were sore and there was a raw feeling between her legs. It took her a few moments to adjust her eyes to the low light in the room, she could see that it was dark outside and that's why there was a lamp on in the room. When her eyes finally adjusted to the light she saw the blood on the floor and suddenly realised why her body felt the way it did. She scrambled to her feet terrified, to find that she was alone in the room. On the floor was a trail of blood leading out the door. She followed it down the hall to the basement stairs.

As she reaches for the basement door handle the door opens and Tate stands in front of Violet. His face is still covered in blood as are his hands and chest. He looks Violet up and down then reaches out to take her hand and lead her down the stairs. They walk through the basement towards the door to the crawl space. Tate gingerly crawls up through the hole and then turns to help Violet in. He grabs the torch he left there a few minutes ago and they crawl until they have enough room to stand up. Tate takes Violets hand in his again and walks further into the space.

"I sat in the living room for a long time just staring at him. I went over it a few times and tried to work out exactly what happened." Tate stops walking and stands still looking down at the cavity in the basement floor. He shines the flashlight into the hole and indicates for Violet to look in it. She cranes her neck to peer into the hole and sees Jared lying on the ground all beaten, bloody and dead. "I had to make sure he was really dead before I put him down here. Although if he wasn't I'd probably have just stabbed him again." Tate backs away but Violet continues to stare into the hole, she can't see him as Tate has the flashlight, but she knows that Jared's dead body is down there and it's comforting.

_Karma's a bitch._

"He was insane. I can't believe he did that. Any of it. Hit you and raped you." Tate lifts his hands up and rubs his face furiously. "I can't believe he hurt you. You of all people in the world. You're...different...in a good way. Do you get it?" Violet turns to look at Tate in the dim light and sees that tears are falling down his cheeks mingling with the dried blood. She marches over to him and flings her arms around his body squeezing him tight and sobbing into his chest. Tate lets out a sob of his own as he grips Violet hard in his arms and sinks to the floor pulling her to sit on his lap. They stay like that until they finish crying. Exhausted they leave the crawl space and walk back to the kitchen.

"You should try and sleep, I'm gonna clean up." Violet shook her head and walked to a closet pulling out a mop and bucket. She handed the mop to Tate then walked to the sink and filled the bucket with hot water. Reaching under the sink she dumped the first thing she could find that looked like cleaning fluid into the bucket. After unsuccessfully trying to heave the bucket out of the sink Tate pulled it out for her putting it on the floor and placing the mop in it. He sloshed the mop about in the water for a moment before lifting it out and starting on the mess. Violet grabbed a large hard brush from the closet dipped it in the water and started scrubbing the blood away.

They cleaned all of the living room, hall, kitchen and basement in silence, refilling the bucket several times. When they were finished they stashed the cleaning equipment away and walked upstairs to Violets bathroom together. Violet filled the bathtub with hot water and stripped off her bloody clothes. She sank into the tub and held her nose as she ducked her head under the water. When she came up Tate was scrubbing his face and hands with a wet wash cloth, he wrung it out under running water and started on his chest. Violet pulled the plug out of the tub and stood up to run the shower. She wanted Tate in there with her so she rustled the shower curtain to get his attention. He turned to see what the noise was and Violet motioned for him to come over. Tate walked to the tub and Violet took his hand. He got the message pulling his jeans off and climbing into the tub with her.

They showered together, the blood, brain matter and tears washing down the drain. Violet figured that a large amount of her sorrow must have gone with it as she started to feel lighter. When they were clean they got out of the tub and dried each other off before walking back to Violets room. She climbed into a large t-shirt and pyjama pants and Tate shoved his boxers back on. When Violet got into her bed she motioned for Tate to join her and he did. She pulled the covers over them both and melted into his chest feeling the exhaustion over take her. As she drifted off she wondered if they should have gone to the hospital to have their injuries checked out. She figured they'd survive a few hours just so they could sleep. They fell asleep in each other's arms and for once Violet didn't have any nightmares. But Tate did.

This time when Violet woke up Tate wasn't looking down at her in fact he wasn't in the bed. Violet sat up and saw that he was sitting on her desk chair across the room. He was smoking her cigarettes and staring out of the window. It was still dark but Violet could tell it was some time in the morning as light was tinting the darkness. She moved to get off the bed and winced at the pain moving caused. Tate was startled by the noise and realised it was Violet so he stubbed the cigarette out and walked over to her. He had a bleeding hole in his side, cuts to his face and knuckles and too many bruises for anyone to count. Violet took this all in and burst into tears again. Tate leant down to cup her face in his hands.

"Please don't Vi, its ok, I'm ok and you're ok." She choked back her sobs and breathed deeply. Tate sat on the bed next to her and took in her injuries. A possible broken nose, black eyes, a gash on her head and bruises on her arms. He sighed thinking of the wounds he couldn't see, not just the ones covered with clothes and hair but the ones deep in her soul. The ones that wouldn't heal after a few weeks and some chicken soup. The ones that just may never heal. Violet reached out to lightly touch the hole in Tate's side and he finally realised how bad it was.

"I'm not sure but I think we should go to the hospital." Violet contemplated this for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders and nodding.

_That massive hole looks bad, it could need stitches and I don't even know what I look like. You're right I think we do need to go._

"We can go get my car and drive out a bit so we don't randomly run into someone we know. We just have luck like that." Violet nods and gets up to pull clothes on. She remembers Tate's clothes are all covered in blood so she walks into her Dads room and grabs him a shirt and pants to wear. He looks ridiculous in her Dads clothes and she laughs lightly. Tate hears her laugh and looks at her in confusion. He then looks down at himself and joins in. They laugh a little manically for a few minutes before collecting themselves and walking to Violets door. She stops half way down the hall and holds her hands up for him to wait. Violet walks back to her bedroom and reaches into her closet for a bottle taking out a half empty one. She unscrews the top and gulps down a quarter of it. She sighs and goes back to Tate who is fidgeting by the stairs tapping his fingers on the banister. He instantly relaxes when he sees Violet again and she smiles a true bright smile at him.

They walk out of the house and back to the beach where they parked Tate's car the night before. They drive for some time towards the sunrise and watch it come up in the parking lot of a hospital. Tate did a great job of talking to the staff when they got there, making up a story about getting mugged whilst they were out and Violet cried for good measure. She could tell the hospital staff were suspicious of their story but they accepted it and treated them anyway. Violet nervously let the Doctor examine her nose, which was just badly bruised, and head but refused to let her anywhere near other parts of her body and stuffed her sleeves into her palms tightly. Tate explained that she was shaken by the incident and that he'd take good care of her. When Tate was taken away to get stitches a nurse came over to Violet.

"If you ever need to get away there's a shelter I volunteer at that can help. Come back here and I'll help you ok?" Violet nodded but felt confused, her head was all fuzzy. After a few minutes she realised what the nurse meant.

_You think Tate did this to me? Please you should have seen what I did to the guy why did do it. You wouldn't be worried about me then. _

When Tate was all stitched up they were released and ordered to rest for at least 48 hours. Tate said they would and they left. Driving back to Violets house and settling down in her bed with soup and a DVD. Violet fell asleep half way through the movie and Tate held her. He ignored what was happening on the screen in front of him and continued to play the whole incident over and over again in his head. Every punch, kick and stab was etched on the back of his eyelids, he could hear the sounds of the fire poker entering Jared's back and head and smell the blood in his nose. He sat holding Violet as she slept and continued thinking.

Later in the day Violet is in the bathroom looking at herself in the mirror wondering how she would explain her appearance to her Dad.

_I could mime it, could be entertaining. I could blame it on the fight with Leah. Then he'd go mad at the school, blaming them for having a violent student. Sounds like a good plan._

"Don't worry you still look hot." Tate's head says as it appears at the bathroom door. Violet smirks and poses trying her best to look like a Glamour model. "Can we talk?" He air quotes the word talk and she nods walking back into the bedroom with him. Tate sits on the floor next to a cardboard box in front of Violets bed and she sits down in front of him. He swallows hard then pushes the cardboard box towards Violet. It clinks as it moves and she realises what's inside before she looks; empty liquor bottles.

"Found them under your bed." He snaps his head up and stares at her with sudden fear in his eyes. "I wasn't snooping and I'm not telling you to stop! I'm just making sure you're ok, and cleaning up a little." He shrugs, sighs and looks at the floor.

_Cleaning this room up is probably a good idea, so I won't kill...again._

Violet gets up off the floor and walks to her closet. She pulls a shoe box out and takes it back to the floor with her. She sets it out in front of her and opens it. Tate looks inside and sees that the box is filled with photos. Violet rummages around in it for a while collecting photos and setting them in piles. When she's finished she looks up at Tate and takes a deep breath.

_Here it goes my life story with no words just pictures._

Violet picks up a photo of herself at about two years old. She holds it up for Tate to see and points to herself, then her photo self.

"That's you." Nod. "Cute."

She picks the next photo up; it's her and her parents, it was taken on the same day as the first. She points to her photo self then her parents.

"Your Mom and Dad." Nod.

Then Violet picks up two photos one of herself and her Mom when she was about 7 and one of her Dad on his own. She puts them side by side then pulls the one of her Dad away. Tate frowns then it clicks.

"Your Dad left." Nod. "Mine too, assholes." Nod.

The next photo is of her Mom and her when she was around 13. Violet rolls her sleeve up to expose her cut arm and holds it up alongside the photo, pointing to her Mom then the her arm.

"You started cutting when you were what? 12?" Violet shakes her head and points to her Mom in the photo then at a particular scar on her arm. "You cut because of your Mom?" He tried, feeling confused. She shook her head again and thought how to make him understand. "Your Mom cut you?"

_Bingo!_

Violet nodded enthusiastically and reach for the next photo, but Tate grabbed her arm. "Why did she do that?" Violet held her hands up signalling for him to wait, she was getting to it.

The next photo was of her Mom in their old living room surrounded by her American Indian artefacts as she liked to call them. "Your Mom liked Indian culture." Nod.

_Now this bits tricky, I don't have any photos of her running around cutting people screaming she's letting the demons out. _

Violet runs her fingers through her hair, then jumps up to grab a pen and paper. She sits back down and scrawls a note handing it to Tate and breathing hard. He looks down at the paper and reads it; Crazy. Bloodletting. Demons out.

However strange it may be to most people Tate instantly got two things; it was all kinds of communication, not just talking, that Violet had a psychological difficulty with and that she had just communicated with him, most likely in a way she hadn't with anyone else in a long time.

"She was unstable and thought there was a demon in you so was trying to get it out with bloodletting?" Nod. "Shit." Tate puts the piece of paper on the floor and Violet holds up another photo of her and Jared. In it his arm is around her shoulder, he's pulling a face and she's smiling a huge pearly white smile. Tate looks at the photo and glares at Jared's face with disgust.

"You used to date Jared, yeah he said." Violet quickly discards the photo at the harsh tone in Tate's voice and picks up the last photo. She holds it up to Tate who stares at it in complete confusion. Violet points to herself and then to her photo self, in a hospital bed hooked up to a ventilator with her right leg in a plaster cast.

"That's you?" Nod. "What happened?" Violet grabs the photo of just her Mom again, lifts her shirt up to show Tate the large scar on her stomach and points to another scar on her arm. "Your Mom did that to you?"

_I could knock you down with a feather. I hope you believe me, although I wouldn't believe it if it hadn't happened to me._

Tate stares at the photo and Violet in total disbelief occasionally shaking his head. Violet collects the photos up and places them back in the shoe box. She gets up off the floor and replaces the box in her closet.

"What happened to your Mom?" Violet turns to see Tate by a window lighting up a cigarette. She contemplates getting the photos out again and trying to explain that way but she knows it won't work, so she grabs more paper and scrawls down the answer on it. Tate reads it and nods; Dead. Jared. Stabbed.


	8. Chapter Eight: Waste the Day

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update and sorry it's a short one. But check out the two new Tate-centric chapters I've just added and I'll update again soon. **

Chapter Eight: Waste the Day

Tate is standing by Violet's open bedroom window still staring at the piece of paper in his hand. Then he crumples it up, drops it to the floor and turns to look out of the window. Violet walks to her bedside cabinet and removes a liquor bottle she takes a few long swigs then replaces it. As she walks back over to Tate ash falls from the forgotten cigarette he's holding onto the floor. Violet walks up behind him and takes the cigarette, puts it to her lips and takes a drag. She looks into his eyes then turns her head to blow the smoke out of the window. When she turns her head back towards him Tate turns to face Violet and leans forward to kiss her.

Tate sinks deep into the kiss Violet tasting of cigarette and liquor again, he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her closer to him. Violet flicks the cigarette out of the window and wraps her arms around Tate's neck. They kiss hard and long with their tongues dancing. When they run out of oxygen they pull apart and take a few deep breaths. As Violet pulls back from Tate her eyes drift to the window then they widen and her mouth drops.

_Oh shit how did I forget about that?_

She pulls her arms from Tate's neck to his chest, pushing herself away from him and his grip on her, then she runs from the room.

"Vi what's wrong?" Tate shouts as he chases after Violet, down the staircase and out of the front door then across the street. She stops at a car and just stares at it, Tate comes up behind Violet, "Um it's a car?" Tate moves so that he's standing across from Violet looking at her over the bonnet of the car.

_It's Jared's car. He drove it here and obviously couldn't leave in it. What are we gonna do with it?_

"Are you car shopping? It's nice and looks pretty expensive, doubt you'll like the price." Tate laughs and moves to run his hand over the bonnet. Violet rushes over to him and slaps his hand away from the car. "Ow what's that for?" He pulls his hand up to his chest and glares at Violet. "Who's car is this Vi?" He looks at her quizzically and she stares at him willing him to work it out. "It's not your parents cos it wouldn't be parked across the street it'd be in the driveway, right?" Tate walks around the car looking it over. Violet walks in the opposite direction to meet up with him at the trunk. "It's his car isn't it?" She nods.

Tate sighs and drops down to sit on the sidewalk resting his elbows on his knees and looking at his feet. Violet chews on her bottom lip and contemplates what they should do with the car.

_If we leave it here my Dad will recognise it and call the police. There's still a restraining order in place so he's not allowed near me. But how can we move it and where can we move it to? _

"We'll wait until dark I know a chop shop we can drive it to, it'll be in pieces before 1am." Tate looks up at Violet and she nods at his idea. "We need to be careful if anyone sees us we'll be linked to him and people might start poking around. I still don't know what we should do with the body. Is he gonna be missed?" Violet shakes her head.

_He's got no one; no family to wonder where he is, it'll be fine I promise. I might be able to tell you that one day._

"We should get away from the car don't want people seeing us near it." Violet nods then holds out her hand to Tate who takes it and they walk back to the house. Violet leads Tate to the kitchen and motions for him to sit at the table. She pulls open some cabinets and contemplates what to cook.

_Pasta should work everyone likes pasta. _

She pulls out a container of dried pasta and turns to grab a pan. Tate watches Violet as she slowly moves around the kitchen, filling the pan with water and setting it on the stove. She walks back to a cabinet and winces as she stretches to reach the top shelf. Tate jumps up from the table and rushes to Violet's side just as she pulls a jar of pasta sauce out of the cabinet.

_Cool it; I'm fine you're the one with the hole in his side. _

Violet puts the sauce down on the counter and turns to Tate placing her hands on his cheeks and pulling him in for a soft kiss. Then she slips her tongue past his lips and flicks it against his. Tate reaches his arms around Violet's waist to pull her close to his body. Violet drops her arms from Tate's face and drapes them over his shoulders. Tate feels Violet's body heat against him and squeezes her tighter to feel her heart beating against his chest.

They kiss until Tate pulls away and looks down at Violet. "I don't want to push you." Violet smiles and reaches down to the hem of her shirt pulling it off over her head. "Are you sure?" Violet responds by reaching down between them and palming Tate's erection through the pants he's wearing. He moans and shakes his head in disbelief adding a small chuckle, which stops when Violet pushes her mouth on his again.

This time they kiss hard and fast desperately needing to feel and taste each other. Violet pulls away to remove Tate's shirt then unbuckles the belt to his pants, pulling them and his boxers down.

"Here?" Tate exclaims as Violet pulls her own pants off. She nods at him and Tate swallows hard. She motions to the back door but when he doesn't move she gently pushes Tate to sit down on the floor against the door. After taking off her bra and panties she straddles Tate and slowly sinks onto his cock.

They both grasp at each other as Tate sinks deep into Violet then slowly she begins rocking as he sucks at her neck and shoulders. Violet digs her nails into the flesh of Tate's biceps as he bites her shoulder. He looks into her eyes then grabs her by the hips lifting her off of his cock then slamming her back down so that her breasts bounce and she gives a small squeak. As Tate continues to pull Violet on and off of him, she pulls her right arm down between them and begins to rub her clit. Tate pushes himself deep into Violet then holds her there against him. He pushes up into her grinding himself against her hard as her breath hitches. Tate watches as she closes her eyes and scrunches her face up, then as her cunt clenches around his cock her face relaxes and her mouth forms a small oh.

Just then Violet hears the front door open. "I hope she's here anyway," her Fathers voice comes from the foyer and Tate stops moving, going deathly still. Violet pulls herself off of Tate and scrambles for her clothes, with Tate doing the same. As Violet pulls her pants on Haden and Ben walk into the kitchen.

"Get the fuck up of the floor and go to your room now!" Ben screams. Violet pulls her shirt on and stands, putting herself in between her Dad and Tate. Ben glares at her and when she doesn't move to leave he rushes up to her, his eyes practically red with anger and puts his face in hers. "Get out now!" He grabs Violet's arm and pulls her towards the door.

Tate steps forward and grips Ben's wrist as it holds Violet's arm. He looks into Ben's eyes and grits his teeth. Violet looks up at Tate and shakes her head. So Tate releases Ben's wrist and lets his arm drop to his side. Ben marches Violet to the stairs with Tate following behind them. As Violet ascends the stairs Ben turns to Tate.

"If I ever see you with my daughter again I'll cut your dick off. Understand?" Tate doesn't dignify Ben with a response he just looks at Violet on the stairs and then walks out of the front door.

Violet runs up the stairs to her bedroom and leans out of her window to look for Tate. He walks from the house and heads out to the street. Violet grabs a mug from her dresser and throws it out the window in his direction hoping to get his attention and not hit him with it. The mug smashes on the front lawn and Tate turns to look at it. When his eyes travel up he sees Violet hanging out her window. He checks Ben isn't by the door then runs to the window. Violet pulls back into her room then Tate's bag is dangling from the window. He catches it and swings it over his shoulder.

"Do you not listen?" Ben's voice bellows from the porch and Tate turns running from Violet which was the last thing he wanted to do.

Several hours later when Tate is walking along the beach his cell phone chimes in his bag. He digs it out and sees that there's a text from an unknown number. He opens it to read one little word; 'Sorry'.


	9. Chapter Nine: Memories

Chapter Nine: Memories

Ben storms back into the house and runs up the stairs to Violet's bedroom. He bursts into his daughter's room to find her attempting to climb out of her window.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ben grabs Violet by the back of her shirt and pulls her into the bedroom. He shoves her on her bed and takes a good long look at her face, the black eyes and cuts.

"What happened to you?" Violet looks up at her Dad with wide eyes trying to look afraid of him, hoping to diffuse the situation by reminding him of what she went through with her Mom. Ben leans down to cup Violet's face in his hand and she purposely flinches.

"I'm sorry Vi I didn't mean to scare you. Did this happen during that fight at school?" Ben indicates to her face and Violet averts her eyes from her father. She gives a slight nod. "I can't believe that Principal was trying to blame the whole incident on you. He even said you came away from it without any injuries, which is obviously not true."

_Well my arm did hurt a little where that bitch twisted it._

"Just wait until I get into that school, he won't know what hit him." Ben sighs, "Was that boy the one who was in the fight with you?" Violet doesn't move to nod or shake her head.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." Ben gets up to leave Violet's room but he turns back before he gets to her door. "A few notes; don't fuck boys on the kitchen floor or ever actually and you're grounded." Violet frowns at her father. "Don't try that, you skipped most of the week at school and your therapy sessions, and then started a fight on school grounds. Oh and you aren't seeing that boy again."

Ben opens Violet's bedroom door and Hayden is standing outside. She jumps when the door opens and tries to compose herself, pretending that she wasn't listening to the conversation between father and daughter.

"Um Ben one of the dining room chairs is missing and the fire poker." Ben turns to look at Violet.

"Do you know anything about that Vi?" Violet widens her eyes and shrugs.

_No idea. Have you tried the basement next to the rotting corpse?_

"I'm sure they'll be either returned or replaced." Ben looks Violet in the eyes then motions for Hayden to move backwards so that he can leave the room.

"What would she have done with them?" Violet hears Hayden ask.

"I have no idea what that girl does. I'll buy you a new chair and poker; if you like we can go shopping later." The voices retreat down the hall and Violet lies down on her bed.

After spending some wondering what Tate was doing and when she'd next be able to see him Violet decided to distract herself from her new infatuation by reading. She rolls onto her stomach and reaches onto her bedside cabinet for a book but there isn't one there. Instead she drops onto her bedroom floor to search through a tower of books there.

The tower appeared after her recent online shopping spree just adding to Violet's collection of second hand books. She had found some beautiful books to add to her collection from children's fiction in the form of The Neverending Story to an exploration of the politics and theology of Mythology in The Implied Spider and over to quick wit in The Hound of the Baskervilles According to Spike Milligan.

_Can't say I don't have an eclectic taste in books. _

Violet peruses her collection finally deciding on Peter Singer's Practical Ethics. She picks it out of the tower and settles down on her bed to read with her drinks bottle. After a few chapters Violet feels the need for a cigarette. She checks her bedside cabinet but there are none on or in it. She checks all her usual hiding places then remembers she has a pack in her school bag. She empties the bag on her bed and finds her pack and lighter as she lights one up Violet sifts through the mess on her bed. A broken pen is thrown into her garbage can along with an elastic band and an empty pack of gum. She finds a few scraps of paper and is about to throw them all in the garbage too when she remembers that Tate scrawled his cell number on a scrap of paper on Monday and she shoved it in her bag, completely forgetting about it after Leah attacked her.

Violet flattens all of the paper she has found and on one of them is Tate's writing. She grabs her cell phone and quickly taps out a one word text sending it to the number on the piece of paper. After several minutes of staring at her phone Violet remembers the old adage that a watched pot never boils, and presumably a watched cell phone never receives texts. Then her phone signals a text has arrived and Violet looks at the message.

'It's ok not ur fault let me kno wen coast's clear we can go 4a drive'.

_Good idea let's not discuss the car we need to dispose of or its dead owner in texts. They get checked by the cops and we don't want to build a case for them if they look at us for his murder. _

Violet lies back down on her bed and tries to read, but all she can think about is Tate. How his hair falls, how his hands feel on her skin, how his voice sounds when he speaks to her, how much she wants him to hold her right now.

Time moves slowly as the light fades and the darkness creeps into her bedroom. Violet hears her Dad and Hayden a few times in the hall but they don't disturb her. She eventually hears them move into their bedroom and after waiting around an hour Violet leaves her room to check if their light is out. Seeing that it is Violet texts Tate, then grabs her water bottle and cigarettes, and heads down to the basement.

Making it through the crawl space to the cavity Violet sits on the edge of the space and stares down at Jared's body. As Violet continues to drink she remembers the last time she saw Jared, before this recent unfortunate incident.

_Violet lay in the hospital bed watching a soap opera on the TV with the sound turned down. She was propped up on the bed with pillows her Dads girlfriend had brought her and had an IV in her arm administering painkillers. _

"_How are you feeling today Violet?" Violet turned her head to look at her Doctor who was standing in the door way to the room. She had a nervous smile on her face and was clutching a chart to her chest. She shuffled into the room slowly and revealed to Violet that Jared was standing behind her; he smiled and waved at Violet as the Doctor closed the door behind her. _

"_He would really like to see you." Violet's Doctor pulled up a chair and sighed. "He's told me about the problems between you both and I really think he wants to explain himself." With her teeth clenched and her face set Violet turned her head to stare the Doctor down. "I'm convinced that if you face your problems you will release these demons inside you and be able to talk again." The Doctor flipped through Violet's chart and checked over her heart monitor before tending to her arm. She un-wrapped the bandage on Violet's left arm and checked the wounds making sure they were healing then re-dressing them. Violet looked up at the ceiling as the Doctor checked her over so as to avoid looking at Jared standing on the other side of the glass door. _

_The Doctor left the room and talked to Jared for a few minutes, Violet could see him getting more and more angry at their conversation. He ran his fingers through his hair and pulled at it then shouted at the Doctor who held her hands up at him in a sign of submission. Jared turned away from the Doctor and she signalled to someone on the other side of the corridor to come over. A security guard appeared next to the Doctor and started to talk to Jared. Violet couldn't hear what was being said but she guessed Jared being asked to leave and knowing him he wouldn't like or do that. _

_The security guard backed out of Violet's vision and all she could see was Jared's back getting closer to the door, and then he was backing into her room. When Jared was fully in Violet's hospital room he closed the door and turned, pointing a knife at Violet._

"_Come on Vi why don't you want to talk to me?" Jared advanced towards Violet. Although she had her eyes trained on the knife in her boyfriend's hand Violet could see several people rushing around outside her room out of the corner of her eye. _

"_I've been missing you, the cops kept me for nearly two days asking me questions about your Mom. I told them again and again how she hurt you and how I saved you. I did you know you would have died if I hadn't killed her. Are you happy I killed her?" Jared climbed onto the bed next to Violet and moulded his body next to hers all the while keeping the knife in his hand pointed in her direction. As he curled up with her Jared traced the knife down Violet's cheek. Violet stared at the ceiling and wondered if it would hurt to drown in her own blood as Jared moved the knife down to her neck. _

_She heard the hospital door open and a voice urged Jared to drop the knife and move away from her. Jared responded by informing the voice that if it tried to enter the room he'd slice Violet's throat. As she had done when her Mom had attacked her before Violet disassociated from the situation and after what seemed like several hours she pulled herself back to the room and realised that Jared was asleep next to her. Being unsure whether she should try to escape or not Violet weighed up her options, if she tried to move and he woke up he'd most likely kill her, if she stayed there the police would eventually get him out, he'd be arrested and she wouldn't have to worry about seeing him again. _

_Violet attempted to move under Jared's weight to see if he would wake up which he didn't, so she slowly reached her right arm up to take the knife resting on her throat from Jared's hand. When she had it in her grip she pushed the blade harder against her flesh feeling it break underneath the pressure. She felt Jared's hand snake over hers and add more pressure, and then a rush of noise filled Violet's ears as the room filled with police and hospital staff. Jared was dragged from the bed and out of the room screaming that he loved Violet as gauze was applied to her new wound. _

"All your vices?" Violet starts at the voice that brings her out of her memory. She looks up to find Tate standing nest her; he sits down next to Violet with his legs swinging over the space like hers.


End file.
